1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of computer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for managing virtual conferencing breakout groups.
2. Description of the Related Art
“Web conferencing” or “virtual conferencing” refers to various forms of online collaborative services including web seminars, webcasts, and peer-level web meetings. Web conferencing systems today support real-time audio and video streaming between participants, typically under the coordination of a central web conferencing server. Applications for web conferencing include online classrooms, meetings, training sessions, lectures, and seminars, to name a few.
On some web conferencing systems, video of the current speaker is displayed in a central (or otherwise highlighted) position within the graphical user interface. One problem with existing systems, however, it is difficult to determine who is speaking and should be prominently displayed visually at any given time, particularly in conferences that involve a large number of active speakers such as online classrooms. Providing the most prominent visual positioning to the speaker who is speaking the loudest (as is done in some existing systems) does not scale well with a large number of active speakers. In addition, selecting the loudest speaker may result in frequent transitions of the current speaker position, resulting in an undesirable end user experience. In some systems, the meeting organizer or moderator may choose who is provided with the central speaker position. However, this may result in friction to the free flow of the discussion and can be burdensome on the meeting organizer, particularly in large groups.
In addition, current web conferencing systems fail to provide adequate techniques for subdividing participants into “breakout groups” as is often done during in-person classes and training sessions. To form in-person breakout groups in a real classroom, for example, the teacher or professor may count off the number of students, divide the students into pre-arranged groups, or use some other heuristic for subdividing the class. Once the groups have been organized, the groups shuffle around the room to a designated location or move into separate classrooms to work together. The teacher or professor may then walk around to join each group and monitor progress. Once re-assembled, the groups may take turns presenting their results.